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Re: Why Nets Ruin Recreational Fishing

Not worried by negative comments liltuffy. There are always going to be naysayers and especially from the commercial sector. I know what I have seen and I know the science supports my observations ... and the observations of others, and I know I have the support of the rec sector in the main.
It is something that has to be done in order for our fisheries to be managed appropriately. Any idea that rec and pro can work together and fish the same waters must be put to bed. There will always be conflict between the two sectors unless net free areas are created along the length of the Queensland coast. Not all of it, not even half, but areas of high ecological importance such as key spawning or feeding regions, or regions where tourism can deliver far more to communities and the state's economic well being than can net fishing.

It has to be said also, that I wouldn't be doing any of this if there wasn't a significant problem with fish stocks in this region. It has been rare for anybody to catch decent fish off this beach for quite a number of years now. Teewah Beach is actually over 50kms in length, not 20 as somebody stated earlier. Then there is Rainbow Beach to Inskip Point and Fraser Island to the north which is equally affected and Sunshine Coast beaches to the south which are also as barren ... perhaps 300kms of coastline where recreational fishing is poor and causing a loss of tourism revenue. Local participation rates are going through the floor and environmentally .... well it is a disaster. Don't see dolphins or sharks anymore and manta rays and pilot whales are a distant memory. Terns feeding over tailor schools have been replaced by seagulls feeding on beach scraps. Catches of tailor from this beach wouldn't be one hundredth of what they were before 2000 and this is also reflected in commercial tailor catches - which aren't eaten by humans anyway, but by cats that decimate our terrestrial native wildlife. Dart, which were once considered a pest because of their numbers when other species were the target, have almost disappeared, but are now a prized catch at sizes that not long ago were considered to be very small. Bream and tarwhine were prolific here up until 15 years ago, but a 'good' catch now is a couple of comparably small fish.The whole situation is entirely unacceptable to Australian communities ... if they actually knew what has been going on here.